


The girl he lost

by KendraPendragon



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Meant To Be, Romance, found again, kids in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-01
Updated: 2018-10-01
Packaged: 2019-07-23 11:36:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16158197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KendraPendragon/pseuds/KendraPendragon
Summary: Finally, they are engaged. Sherlock is blissfully happy. Until he finds out that he knows Molly longer than he thought.





	The girl he lost

“We should have done this years ago”, Sherlock sighed as he melted against his girlfriend, bedding his head on her chest, giving the mound of her breast a lingering kiss.

Finally, they were here in his bed, as lovers. Officially a couple for a month, last night they made love for the first time. After everything that happened, they had wanted to go slow, to do this right.

They both knew for sure now that this would be forever.

After Molly draped the blanket over them Sherlock took her hand, looking at the ring he had put on her finger yesterday evening, on the rooftop of Barts.

“We’re getting married”, he stated, his voice terribly sentimental and happy. Both feelings he once despised, but now were a constant for him.

“Told you we would.”

In his state of bliss he needed a second to process her words. Then he frowned.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did. Summer 1991, in the bathroom of Suncliff Castle.”

Not really a castle, just a Victorian Scottish mansion by the sea, a vacation site for upper-class children.

Memories flooded Sherlock’s mind, he saw the sea, the boys that had teased him, a scowling Mycroft, a girl that was mostly long, curly hair and big, dark eyes. He felt her wet lips on his mouth-

He bolted upright, his heart pounding, staring wide-eyed at the woman he loved…

…at the girl who gave him his first kiss.

Molly looked up at him, smiling at first, but at his expression that smile faltered. She sat up, too, pressing the blanket to her chest.

“You really didn’t know”, she said breathlessly.

Sherlock’s mind was racing, just like his heartbeat. So many boyish emotions were flooding his system.

“You hair was blonde and curly.”

“It darkened and I straightened it so many times as a teenager I lost the curls.”

His bottom lip trembled.

“You said your name was Joan.”

His voice was sharp.

“Yes. I did that back then. I wanted to be Joan of Arc.”

“But everyone called you Joan, even the staff!”

“Dad paid extra so they would. I was obsessed with her…why are you angry?”

Sherlock huffed and jumped out of bed and into his black briefs. He started pacing the bedroom, trying to make sense of this revelation, that the girl he lost, the girl he thought of for years after, that she was here, right in front of him, that she-

“Sherlock?”

“I looked for you!” It burst out of him and he whirled around to her.

“I begged my parents to call and ask for your contact info. Then I called myself, for weeks, until someone finally sent me the guest list. You weren’t on it! I called everyone who left a number, even the boy who tried to drown me. No one had your number, no one knew your real name! I stared at the guest list for hours, I-”

Sherlock stopped dead. Then he dashed to his closet and swiped the clothes of the top shelf so he could reach a square wooden box, looking old and dusty. With shaking hands he fumbled with the lock, turned the little metallic wheels to enter the code - 1991 - and threw the lid open, trinkets from his childhood falling out and onto the bed until he found the folded piece of paper. Hastily he unfolded it, his eyes scanning the list of names until-

All the strength and anger left him and he sunk onto the bed, hunched over, burying one hand in his hair as he stared at the faded letters until his vision blurred.

Heavy silence filled his bedroom. Molly didn’t dare to move. She was staring at his back, watched him breathe and stare at her name on the list he had kept all these years.

Her heart was aching.

“I loved you”, he said eventually, his voice sounding so much younger, softer.

“From the moment you took my hand and pulled me behind you to defend me with your stick, I loved you. You were the first girl, the first child after Redbeard that was kind to me. I followed you everywhere. I didn’t care what the other boys said. They laughed and sneered, tried to get me alone, but you were always there…with your stupid stick”, Sherlock’s voice broke, “you protected me, gave me a stick of my own, taught me how to fight. You knighted me under the willow…and I loved you for it.”

A sob broke out of him. That’s when the mattress started to move and a second later Molly wrapped the blanket and herself around his back, her cheek resting against his upper arm. She looked down at the paper in his shaking hand, seeing her name only three lines down from his.

“I thought you knew”, she said softly, her hand stroking his back.

Sherlock shook his head, wiping a tear from his cheek.

“I deleted the names after a year, when I finally gave up.”

Molly kissed his arm, her heart clenching. She remembered the little boy very well. He had been as obsessive as she had been. But so frightened and tender-hearted. His eyes had been bright and open back then.

“I loved you, too”, she whispered against his skin.

“You made me laugh, you were as creative and as committed to our plays as I was. You made me feel less alone in the world.”

Sherlock let out a shaky breath and placed his hand on top of hers, which was curled around his bicep.

“So did you…”

They interlaced their fingers, looking at them for a while.

Eventually, Sherlock let out a huff of laughter.

“You should have put the ring on my finger. After all, you proposed to me first.”

Now Molly laughed, relieved that Sherlock was smiling.

“Actually, I didn’t. I simply informed you that I’d marry you once we’re old enough.”

“And then you kissed me”, he remembered, stroking her knuckles, “on the day of departure, in the bathroom, with our parents waiting outside.”

“To make it official”, she said as she had back then, remembering Sherlock’s frightened expression. She giggled.

“The kiss was quite a shock for you.”

“It shook my entire world. I was floating on air the entire trip home. That’s why I forgot to ask for your number. I thought…”, he paused, the smile fading, “I thought you would call me. I didn’t give my number, either, but I thought you would call, anyway. You got everything you wanted, so I thought you’d find it out easily enough. But you didn’t call…”

The hold on her hand losened, but she took his and held it tight.

“Dad was already sick, Sherlock. And when I came home he had started his first chemo. That summer ended in a nightmare. I was so scared to lose him. To see him in this state, to watch his hair fall out, him getting thinner each day…I forgot. I’m so sorry.”

He shook his head and pulled at her until she was sitting on his lap. He held her tight and tugged his head under her chin, listening to her heartbeat. When Molly began stroking his hair, his eyes fell close.

“I dreamed of you, though” she whispered softly.

“Every night, for a very long time, a few times as an adult, even. I never forgot you, Knight Commander Sherlock. And when you walked into my morgue I recognized you instantly. But you didn’t recognize me. So I thought. And when I saw how clever you’ve become I thought you didn’t want to. So I never said anything. We’ve been only children, after all. It should have been meaningless.”

“I loved you”, he insisted, looking up at her with fierce eyes.

Molly nodded, gently stroking his cheek.

“I loved you, too. I never stopped loving you.”

“Neither did I.”

He kissed her then, long and deep, holding her tight.

They fell back into bed eventually.

Their first daughter was sired that day.

They named her Joan.


End file.
